Pottery Barn Patio Set for sale, anybody?

We had been looking for a patio table set for about a week or so.  We had hit most of the big box stores to price them out and had just started looking at Craigslist for some deals.  One posting we found was for a Pottery Barn "Chesapeake" table set.  It was perfect!  The poster was selling it for $300 but the advertisement was for an estate sale to be held a week later, so we figured we'd keep looking and if we didn't find anything else we would visit the sale.  A short while later we saw another ad for a Pottery Barn "Chesapeake" table set.  This one looked identical in the posted photographs.  The ad said it was in excellent condition and it was selling for only $150!  We were so excited, we immediately emailed the seller and asked if we could come and see the table set.  "It's exactly what we were looking for", we said.  The seller replied within minutes and we had it scheduled to go see the table set the next day after church.

The next day I have to admit I was pretty distracted throughout the church service.  We were going to get such a great deal on this patio set I couldn't wait to go pick it up and take it home.  Occasionally I would catch myself and remind myself, "It's only patio furniture, Robby.  Pay attention to the sermon."  But still, I couldn't stop thinking about the deal we had gotten.

Immediately after the service we went and picked up Lee from childcare and put him in the car.  Then we rushed to the seller's house.  Her husband met us at the door and said, "She'll meet you by the garage."  So we walked over to the garage door as it slowly began opening.  "Here it is," we heard the lady say as she pointed downward.  Our eyes went from her down, down, down until we saw it.  It was beautiful.  Exactly like the photos in the advertisement.  Except it was Pottery Barn Kids!

Uh oh.  The thought sunk in.  Maybe we didn't read the ad well enough.  I bet Pottery Barn Kids was in the advertisement and we didn't read it carefully.  We had looked at the photograph but there was nothing in the photo to indicate its size, so we just assumed it was the same as the one we had seen earlier for $300.  Now the low price of $150 made a lot of sense.  It was a kids table!

I looked at Katie.  Would she say anything?  Would she fess up to our mistake?  I was so embarrassed.  I looked at it and said, "I like it.  What do you think, Katie?"

"Yeah, it looks good," she replied.  Ugh.  We both felt ridiculous.

"We'll take it." I said, with a fake smile.  So I paid the seller $150 and she helped me pack it in the car.  As we drove home we could not believe we just bought this kids table.  I was mad at myself for not reading the ad carefully, and I was mad at myself for not being able to fess up to our mistake.  I was just so embarrassed and wanted to save face.

It hit me then that maybe this was God's way of telling us not to put our hope in good deals or nice furniture.  I had been so excited about the patio set I basically missed out on the teaching lesson at church that day, and all for naught.  It was a convicting thought, and I thanked God for reminding me what's important.

When we got home we put it on our patio and tried to figure out how we were going to use it.  Our kids wouldn't use it, we knew that.  Maybe we could paint it white and use the chairs in the kids' rooms.  Maybe we could use it as a coffee table.  At the end of the day we just did not want the thing, so we decided to post it on Craigslist.  That night, after midnight, I put the ad and some photos I took up on the classifieds site.  I listed the patio set for $249.  If I made nice profit, all of this trouble would have been worth it!

At 4:30 in the morning, Katie elbows me and says, "Someone just emailed about our patio set!"

"What? Are you serious?  What are they doing up at 4:30?" I replied.  Sure enough, the person wanted to come by in the morning to look at it.  I replied, "Sure.  Come by before 9am."

"Is the price negotiable?" the person responded.

"As long as it's reasonable." I replied.

I got another email from the same person.

"Will you take $185?," she wrote.  "The exact same type of patio set was posted on Craigslist yesterday for $150 and someone beat me to it."

Incredulously, I said, "Katie, you have to read this email."

"Yeah, $185 is fine." I emailed back.

Sure enough, the lady came by at 9am, picked up the Pottery Barn Kids patio set and paid me $185.